Web Development

Every website that we develop is unique, tailored to the preferences and specific requirements of our customers. Pricing varies over a wide range, depending on the number and complexity of the pages, navigation architecture, graphic content, artistic complexity, interactive requirements, and many other factors.

Therefore every website project is quoted after customer requirements are understood and documented. However, the following information will provide some price guidance for a typical small business website.

Standard SBSWA Web Development Services

1. Initial consulting, including discussion and documentation of requirements, development of estimate or quote - There is no charge for these services.
2. Correspondence and collaboration with customer to obtain and review graphics/photos, review prototype artwork and/or layout as needed, transfer domain name if applicable, etc. - This consulting time varies depending on design complexity and customer decisions. For small businesses It is typically less than 2 hours total invoiced labor.
3. Graphic artwork (Primary cost driver #1) - Cost for artwork can vary widely, from less than $100 to several thousand dollars, depending on requirements. A low-cost implementation includes use of customer-provided logo art, library photos, etc. with minimal or no Photoshop work required. Moderate-priced implementations include professional photo editing, text-over-image, licensing of royalty artwork, montage development, etc. See the main graphic montage on the SBSWA home page for an example. For additional cost, a Flash introduction can be developed. Flash development includes both graphic artwork and programming tasks. Simple Flash introductions, such as an animated logo and tagline, can cost as little as $200. Extended Flash movies, such as the SBSWA intro, cost somewhat more or substantially more, depending on specific requirements.
4. Interactive dynamic page or Web application development (Primary cost driver #2) - If your requirements include correspondence forms (auto-generated email), database-driven content, special effects (Javascript development), other server-side programming tasks, e-commerce / shopping cart capability, etc. the programming costs can become a dominant factor in the total website cost.
5. Home page and content pages - A simple home page with graphic links ("menu") to additional content (including mouseover effects) can cost as little as $200. Graphic artwork is generally desired on a home page, and adds some cost or potentially substantial cost. See (3) above. A hierarchical popup menu system can be added at additional cost for websites that include dozens or hundreds of pages. Typical static content pages (such as the page you are reading) which contain only paragraph text, hyperlinks to other pages, and photos can cost as little as $100, unless Photoshop work is required.
6. Final Web implementation, domain registration and web hosting setup - Only a few hours are required to set up a website and "go live" on the Internet. A one-time administrative fee, annual web hosting charge, and (if needed) domain name registration fee apply. A typical small business website can be hosted for as little as $99 per year, with plenty of bandwidth, file space, and daily backups, as well as an unlimited number of mailboxes!

We have incorporated many of the options described above in the SBSWA website. It is an example of a moderate-priced site, including professional artwork, royalty photos, hierarchical popup menus, extensive Flash intro, ColdFusion-driven correspondence page, and over 30 static content pages. This site would be priced in the $4000-$5000 range, depending on customer involvement in the requirements and design phases. On the other hand, a simple "yellow book ad" website can cost less than $500 (using customer-provided logo and other graphic content), not including the web hosting charges.

We hope that this pricing page helps you to gain a general understanding of the cost to implement your requirements. You are invited to contact us for a quote on your website development. Because of our low overhead and extensive software development experience, you can be assured that we will provide a high quality custom product at the most competitive price.